Seven Minutes in Heaven
by LynnAgate
Summary: Alec and Max run into eachother at an out-of-the-way bar, and a drinking game leads to a night they'll never forget. Disclaimer: Dark Angel is owned by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. For entertainment purposes only.
1. Chapter 1

Alec parked his motorcycle in the back parking lot next to a couple of muted-tone, boring four door sedans and walked into Seven Minutes in Heaven, a busy bar outside of Seattle. The building was split into two big rooms, joined by a big bar. One room was a pool hall with multiple tables lit by hanging lights, a jukebox, and darts; the other room was more conducive to a club, with its tall tables and dance floor. He assessed which room was darker.

As he headed into the club area, he inched his way through the crowds of sweaty dancers and overzealous people trying to hook up, and sat at the bar. He shrugged his jacket off and hung it on the barstool back.

"Hey Dave, two fingers," he greeted the bartender. Dave started on Alec's request with a nod.

Immediately, a short little brunette approached the bar and squeezed between Alec and the guy on the stool next to him. "Two appletini's, please," she said as Dave set the drink in front of Alec.

Alec looked toward her, annoyed by her too-effervescent voice. She was probably wearing the most uncomfortable push-up bra he'd had the privilege of seeing in an attempt to get free drinks. He reached for his scotch and the woman smiled at him as she waited for her drinks. Alec shot her the obligatory smile before turning back to his drink and taking a generous gulp of the amber alcohol.

He'd come to Seven Minutes to relax, not to be on the prowl for the next girl, the next town. He hadn't really been able to relax in the past couple of months. Just wound all the time – and Max wasn't helping, constantly asking, no, demanding his help with her missions for Eyes Only. He hadn't really had a night to himself in weeks.

Alec took another gulp of the liquid, letting it linger on his taste buds a little longer before swallowing it. He motioned for Dave to refill his drink, and Dave brought the small brunette's appletinis and left. He returned with the bottle of Scotch, which he set down in front of Alec's glass. "One of those nights, huh?" the bartender asked. Alec nodded.

Before the brunette could pick up her 'Tinis, Alec turned his body toward hers and grabbed her arm.

"Excuse me!" she nearly shouted, her smile quickly turning to a frown. "Get your hands off me!"

Alec smiled, again the obligatory one. "Sure, I'll let go when you give me my wallet back."

The girl's face turned bright red. "I don't have your wallet."

"Bullshit, sweetheart," Alec said. "Can't con a con-man." He reached into her purse and grabbed his wallet. He opened it and counted out twenty, which he then promptly handed to the bartender. He returned his attention to her. "Now that I've bought you and your friend a drink, can we please cut to the chase?"

The girl's eyes lit up. She showed both excitement at his response and embarrassment at getting caught. She leaned into him, her breasts brushing against his chest, and he bent his head down to whisper, "I'm not interested." She scoffed in response, grabbed the drinks, and floated away.

He could at least be someone's story.

"What's his damage?" he heard her friend ask. Transgenic hearing could be a gift at times. This was not one of those times.

Alec grabbed another forty from his wallet and laid it in front of his glass. "Keep 'em comin', Davey." Dave obliged.

Alec was a full bottle in when Dave returned from the pool side, grinning and with another bottle in hand.

"I don't know about you, man," Alec began, "but I'd give my right nut for the ability to get drunk and stay drunk. Just for a little while."

Dave laughed. "If you can't really get drunk, why do you drink?"

Alec pondered. "I like the taste."

Dave nodded. "I bet I can get you toasted," he challenged.

Alec's brow rose. "Oh yeah? And what if I don't have that kind of money?"

"How about a little wager?"

Alec nodded. "Name the stakes."

Dave wiped out a clean glass. "Don't ask me what the drinks have in 'em. If you leave here stone cold sober, I'll buy your drinks."

"And if not?"

"Can you really put a price on the bliss of being drunk?"

Alec laughed. "Okay, you're on."

Dave smile and walked through the bar to the pool hall side and out of sight. He returned with a tumbler of some brownish liquid. He plopped the tumbler down and waited.

Alec looked at the glass. "Is this shit?" he asked, holding the glass up toward the light, unable to see anything through the opaque, muddy liquid.

"I said no questions," Dave reminded. "Smell for yourself."

Alec brought the rim up to his nose, suspecting someone to be playing a joke on him. It surprisingly did not smell like feces. "This smells like rocket fuel," he said.

For a split second, the pool hall side of the bar erupted in a collective 'oh' that drew the bartender's attention. He turned back to Alec, whose lips hovered close to the rim of the glass. "What's going on over there?" he asked Dave.

"Oh, some poor sap's getting his ass handed to him in pool."

"Must've been a good shot," Alec said. He suddenly tossed the drink into his mouth as if it were a really tall shot. He gulped the contents of the tumbler down, returning an empty glass to its pristine napkin coaster.

"Fuck, man! _Is_ this rocket fuel?" Alec shook his head, feeling the drink's strength shoot down his throat and into his chest like wildfire. He cleared his throat loudly, and then looked to Dave. "Are there drugs in here?"

Dave grabbed the glass. "That's three times you've broken my number one rule." Dave disappeared around the corner. While Dave was out of sight, Alec heard another collective 'oh' followed by clapping. Dave then returned with another glass of the brown muck. "Here you go, buddy."

"To my good man, Davey," Alec toasted, and then slammed the second tumbler as quickly as he had the first. Retuning the glass to the bar and looking up to Dave, he said, "Should I be taking this slower?"

Dave didn't answer – just grabbed the glass and returned to the pool hall.

Alec was almost tempted to round the corner when he heard another round of applause. Before he could, Dave reappeared with another glass. Without hesitation, Alec slammed this one, too.

"Alec, take it easy. You in a hurry?"

Alec finally had a clue, even if it was beyond vague, as to a hint to the question to the mystery that was this drink. "Oh, should I not be drinking the Rocket Fuel so quickly?"

Dave chuckled and returned to the pool hall. While Dave was on the other side, Alec again heard a couple of "oohs" and clapping. Curiosity tugged at his feline DNA. Dave finally rounded the corner with another full tumbler. Alec cordially chuckled at Dave's smile. Clearly what was happening on the other side was really interesting and held most of the pool hall's attention. Dave set the tumbler down.

"Where you getting this stuff? From the other side?"

Dave smiled.

_Jesus, he's not going to tell me a damn thing!_ Alec thought.

Another round of applause broke out from the hall. "What the hell is going on over there?" he asked.

"This fine chick is whippin' a couple-a dudes in pool. It's pretty ridiculous. She's just taking their money!"

Alec raised a brow at this, thinking he might just be in the mood to separate a fool from his money. Dave recognized the look on his face. "Al- man, give it a break," Dave said. "The money you take from them – it doesn't make it to me. If they lose their money, they can't drink."

Alec almost couldn't argue with the man. "If this chick is whoopin' ass, their money's not makin' it to you either, Davey."

Dave huffed. The man had a point.

"How about I'll play winner, and when I win enough, I'll stop playing and pay you for this shit," he said, holding up the glass of Rocket Fuel.

Dave took this in, but with apprehension. "I would say okay, but she'd probably still win." Dave knew this would egg Alec on. Nothing like a little motivation. "And I think you'd get distracted."

Alec began to round the corner with his Rocket Fuel, talking to Dave as Dave passed through the interior bar's passage. "Doubtful," Alec said.

Now on the pool hall side, Alec noticed a crowd of people surrounding one pool table near the middle of the room. There was a tall man whose head Alec could see over the crowd. He wasn't a transgenic, that's for sure. No barcode. He couldn't see the girl, though.

He tried to make his way closer through the crowd. He heard the unmistakable crack of a pool cue against a ball. The crowd cheered again. The man hung his head and grabbed a couple of fifties and handed them over. As the man got ready to leave the circle and some people started shifting, he heard the balls being put back on the table in preparation to be racked.

The guy received a few pats on the back. Before he knew what was happening, another guy in the crowd said, "Alright, let me show you how it's really done." The next challenger, Alec thought. This time it was a shorter dude with sandy blonde hair.

The former challenger reached the bar and sat at a stool a few away from Alec.

"Solid effort," Alec acknowledged.

"I barely got to play. She's really good." The guy looked down and, to Dave, said, "Hey can I get a water?"

Alec almost grumbled. "How about a brew? Since you just got snaked for your drinkin' money, I'll cover it."

The guy accepted Alec's offer. "'Preciate it, man. Victor." The guy shook Alec's hand.

"Alec," he introduced himself.

"Hey thanks." Then after a pause, "I'd buy her a drink if I hadn't just lost all my dough to her."

"Yeah? She hot?" Alec prodded.

As the new challenger walked toward the inner circle, people separated at some invisible seam and revealed the backside of a petite, long-legged brunette. Alec looked her up from foot to head. He started at her calf-length slouchy suede boots, moved to her forever-long toned legs, then up to the tiniest black miniskirt he had ever seen. From there, she wore a brilliant blue ruched top that floated almost effortlessly over her small frame. Her long dark hair fell straight against her back.

Alec gulped. Then his mouth went dry as she bent over the pool table, collecting the balls and dropping them in place in the triangular frame. Alec's head tilted involuntarily as he stared into the darkness of the space where he legs met the miniskirt.

"Yeah, she's a bit distracting," Victor admitted.

The girl finally turned to meet her challenger. Alec couldn't believe his eyes.

It was Max.


	2. Chapter 2

Max smiled sweetly at the new challenger. "Max," she said flirtatiously, shaking his hand.

"Toby," he replied.

Max saw a movement out of the corner of her eye. She followed it and saw Alec sitting at the bar, watching her intently, with a look on his face she'd never seen before. A flattering look she kind of liked. Her eyes seemed to say hello to Alec.

Alec looked to his Rocket Fuel. He took a small gulp and smiled at Max again. She returned to the game, racking up. He felt compelled to watch her every move.

"You break," she said to Toby.

Toby was some random frat-boy townie. Alec knew the instant he saw him that Max would be walking away with his cash. He couldn't wait for the game to begin so Max could prove him right. A sense of pride filled him as he watched her dupe the man out of his hard-earned dollars.

On her first shot, Max sunk a ball in the corner pocket and saw Alec smiling in her direction. She positioned her next shot so she was facing Alec, the neck of her top sagging a little. Alec could almost make out the outline of her breasts in the darkness.

_What the hell am I doing?_ he thought, then stared into his drink. Maybe this rocket fuel was working. Was it just the drink making him see stuff? Like the way she chalked the top of the pool cue while staring him down, then gently blew at the residual blue dust? Like the way she seemed to line up her shots to have her very limber rear pointed his direction, or her face to his, shooting occasional smiles his way?

Alec wasn't sure if it was the drink or not, but just in case, he pounded the brown muck again, turning to Dave, who was already ready with another. When he turned back to Max, drink in hand, he saw her drinking the same brown muck. A shiver ran through his body.

For four more challengers and wins, Max and Alec continued the mutual smiling and drinking. He was certain that Rocket Fuel was kicking in. As the games had gone on, Max winning each one, the bar got less and less crowded, and the potential challengers dwindled near exponentially.

Alec was feeling tipsy. And if he was feeling tipsy, Max was probably feeling it too. He finally got up from his seat, sauntered over toward her with two drinks in hand as the pool hall winded down, no longer interested in her hustling.

"Whaddaya say, Maxie? Your daddy outta town?" Alec stood pretty close to her, offering one of the two drinks to her, which she accepted with a smile.

She immediately took a drink, staring up into his hazel eyes. His breath hitched as he was struck by her melting pools of chocolaty-brown eyes searching his. She swallowed hard as Alec looked down to meet her gaze.

Max had been drawn to him all night. She knew it wasn't her heat. Maybe she was just horny. Or maybe there was something to this drink Mole had made for the bar. When Alec had walked in to come see what the commotion was about, she had noticed him immediately. The way his shirt clung perfectly to his muscles made her knees weak. There was just nothing wrong with a plain black tee and jeans – not on him. She blushed, thinking about what he would look like underneath.

Finally, she spoke. "No one seems to want to play anymore," she almost whined with a faux pout.

"Could you find some time to play with me?" he asked, the trademark grin working itself onto his face.

_Oh, he knows what he's doing_, she thought. He was a shameless maker of innuendo. And this time, it was hot as hell. Oh, how she could play with him.

Max handed him her drink. "I'll rack, you break." When she turned to rack 'em, she carefully constructed each movement, creating slow Alec-torture. Or at least she hoped. She leaned over the table like she had eight other times to rack each game, and felt Alec's eyes burning into every inch of her. Just the thought of it seemed to incinerate her inside out.

Alec gulped another mouthful of Rocket Fuel as he watched her set it up. His heart began racing a little when she leaned over at the other end of the pool table to line up the cue ball. She stared into his eyes with a wicked smile, daring him to take his eyes off her. His pupils dilated with desire – it was nearly palpable.

Max grabbed the pool cues and swayed back over to Alec. They exchanged her drink for his cue and then she said, "Alright. Let's see what you got!" She took a long swig of her muddy drink.

Alec leaned over the table, bringing his line of vision almost parallel to the cue, glanced momentarily up at Max, then returned his look to the green felt and took his shot. He stood confidently, the cue ball successfully breaking up the previously collected triangle of balls.

A slight gasp escaped Max. Why would she find it sexy that he could hit a couple of balls around? She'd seen it a thousand times before in a thousand different games, but when he did it, it was exciting. She knew with their transgenic hearing he would have heard her. He smiled at her and stood up straighter, proud. Max felt her insides shiver. She took another drink. Alec did, too.

"Where'd this stuff come from?" he asked.

"Mole made it," she said, allowing their arms to touch when she walked by him. Max set her drink down. She chalked the tip of her pool cue and blew the loose residue from it.

Did everything she did have to be so sexy? Alec felt his jeans get just a little tighter.

"What's the bet, Max?" he asked, resting his free arm on a nearby chair.

Max thought about it. The mucky drink had been working. She was beginning to feel a little more than buzzed, and she couldn't wait to feel drunk for the first time. Ever since she's left Manticore, she'd felt the need to control every aspect of her life. Now all she wanted was to spend a couple of carefree hours just living. She drank the remainder of her glass and tiptoed her way to Alec. She set her glass down on the table and took the drink out of his hand. "What did you have in mind?"

Max brought his glass to her lips and took a sip, except to Alec it looked like she kissed the rim. He almost lost all control right there. Was she about to hustle him? He collected himself and cleared his throat, which did not go unnoticed by Max. She handed his glass back to him and bit her lower lip, waiting for his response.

He couldn't think. He said the first thing that came to mind. Well, the first safe thing that came to mind. "If I win, you buy all my drinks from tonight," he offered. _Lame_, he thought. _Why couldn't it have been some sexy innuendo?_

Max smiled. "And if I win, you owe me a favor, for me to collect whenever and wherever I want, no questions asked."

Alec swallowed hard. She probably meant something like crawling around in the sewer on a weeknight looking for some lost transgenic and being chased by White, but that didn't stop his eyes from rolling up into the back of his head in ecstasy, thinking about other favors she might call on him to fulfill.

_What the hell is going on?_ he thought again. He looked to the drink in his hand, then back to Max. "Deal," he managed to grunt out.

Max returned to the table and nearly lost her balance. She regained her composure and studied the table for her next move. She leaned down and lined up a shot. When she looked up at Alec, his eyes were closed and he was smiling. She wondered what he was thinking about that would bring such a sexy smile to his face. _Maybe he's thinking about me. Maybe he's thinking about the sound of the wall as he crashes me up against it, devouring every inch of my body._ In the split second of wondering, she took her shot without realigning, and missed.

She frowned to herself. Having Alec owe her a favor was something she really wanted, but she knew he wouldn't miss any shots – besides transgenic genes that made him the perfectly lean and toned statuesque man before her, he seem to have a natural talent for pool. She would probably lose all the pool money on their drinks tonight. Alec opened his eyes. "You missed?"

"Your turn," she said, again brushing up against him a little as they passed one another.

Alec took the last couple of gulps of Rocket Fuel. He could taste her cherry lip glass on the rim, and it threatened to make the less-visible lower parts of him very visible. He set the glass on the edge of the pool table. He looked around the green playing field, appearing to consider all the angles and options before deciding which strategy to use. He leaned down toward the table and looked to Max. She was blushing, and he heard something else… a vibration? He hadn't brought his cell.

His heart sped up as he realized the sound was emanating from her. She was growling, he thought, eyebrows moving close in concern. No, not a growl. A purr. Alec retreated into his thoughts for a moment. _She's fucking purring!_ Instantly, he was hit with an array of mental images: Max rubbing up against him; Max slinking into a room, the pale moonlight accenting her olive skin as she tore off her shirt and straddled him on the bed; Max's face twisted in erotic pleasure that he himself had caused. _Stand down, soldier, _he told himself.

Alec took a deep breath and focused on the shot. On his exhale, the tip of his pool cue struck the cue ball and it flew across the table with impressive speed. It seemed to knock a couple of balls around the table before hitting the eight ball.

Alec held his breath as he watched the white cue and black eight balls head in opposite directions across the green felt toward the corner pockets. His posture sank as both the cue and eight balls fell in.

Max's eyes widened in surprise.

"I can't believe I just did that," he said. "Scratching on the eight. I've never done that."

Max smiled triumphantly. "Looks like you owe me a favor!"

Alec grinned, knowing she believed his scratch to be an accident.

Max and Alec returned to the bar, ordering a couple of shots each of the Rocket Fuel. As Dave poured for them, he said, "Come around to the other side – there are a ton of people over there, and as much as I love you guys, you tip shitty."

They laughed at Dave's honesty. Max held up both shots in a toast. "What shall we shoot to?"

"Getting drunk!" Alec said. They clanked all the shot glasses and double-fisted their shots before returning to the club side to sit at the bar.

"Two more each," Max said, holding up a wiggling two fingers.

Dave obliged.

"Wait for me," Max said, rushing toward the ladies' room.

Alec looked over to Dave. "You gotta tell me what's in that," he said smiling.

"Ah, then you admit it's working," Dave replied.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't have a clue how much I owe you."

"Night's not over."

Alec looked around. It was dark and there were tons of people still on the dance floor, all trying to make a connection, all rubbing up against one another, trying to find that one person who rubbed back, that one person whose scent flipped the sensual switch in their brains.

He thought about Max. _Why did she come out to his bar? Why tonight? She could have gone to Crash to hang out with Sketchy and O.C._ He shrugged. Maybe she just felt bad about taking her friend's money and preferred the guilt-free conscience that came with taking a stranger's money. He chuckled to himself. _Yeah, that sounds like her. _

Dave produced a tumbler of scotch, "on the house."

Alec swirled the liquid in the glass and looked around. What was taking her so long? He turned his body, mid-drink, and saw Max, eyebrows raised, standing behind him. She tugged at his arm, trying to get him standing. Alec set his drink down and allowed her to pull him out to the dance floor. She didn't even ask, just demanded, that he lead her. _Was this the favor? _he thought. _God, I hope not._

They immersed themselves into the crowd of dancers, a slow song already bumping out of the speakers lazily. Alec twirled her in place, ducking into her twirl and bringing her hand to his neck, leaving it resting on his barcode. He pulled her close to him and they began a slow swaying.

"Let me guess," Max said, "there was a class for this at Manticore." She brought up her other hand to rest on Alec's chest, sending electricity through it. He thought about her hands roaming freely over his whole body and shuddered.

_God, it's hard to think with her body pressed up against me, smelling like that._

Max felt heady, almost dizzy, but not really. With Alec's hands on her hips, she felt a tingle deep inside her body; this was the best twinge, she thought, undulating against him like the tide lapping against the shore. She could feel his erection at her navel. _Hard as a fuckin' rock_, _soldier_. Max pulled him a little closer.

As Max continued gyrating against him, Alec knew she could feel his arousal, but she wasn't moving away. This would either be the greatest night of his life, or the greatest set of blue balls of his life.

Max turned to face away from him, rubbing her backside against him as she swayed side to side. Alec slipped one hand around her waist, her hand moving instinctively up to his. She raised her other arm up over her head and raked it through his hair, pulling his face closer to hers by the scruff of his neck.

_If she gyrates any harder or faster or slower or softer, I'm gonna come right in my jeans in the middle of the dance floor in the middle of Seven Minutes and in front of these nice patrons, Dave, and God. _He couldn't decide if Max would be disgusted or turned on by that.

Thankfully, the song ended. Well, not that he was complaining but he needed a distraction to calm down. Their faces were inches apart, and his heart felt as though it were about to burst through his throat. "How about those shots?" he asked, standing statue-still.

Max's eyes opened slowly. _No_, she thought_, I don't want this to end right now_. But Alec hadn't really given her a choice. He turned her around and led her by the hand back to the bar. She immediately shot her first shot, Alec following suit.

"How about a game?" Max asked, mischievously arching an eyebrow.

Alec smiled. "What game?"


	3. Chapter 3

"The game is…" Max hadn't thought this through, yet. She just didn't want the night to end. She wanted to be alone with Alec – somewhere. Anywhere. "I've Never," Max finally said. "A variation of I've Never."

"What kind of game is that?" Alec said, taking a swig of his scotch.

"It's like Truth or Dare, except it's like Truth or Drink." Max laughed at what she had just said. For some reason, the idea tickled her.

Alec felt the tug of his smirk as he looked at her. Her smile was definitely contagious. He watched the corners of her mouth twitch as she tried to refrain from laughing. "I'm in," he said. "Do I get to choose to talk to drink?"

"No," Max said, still laughing. "I tell you something I've never done. If you've done it, you drink."

"And if I haven't?"

"If you haven't done it, neither of us drinks and then it's your turn." Max waved to Dave. "Hey Davey, we're probably gonna need the bottle of brown shit," she said, taking a couple of fifties and laying them on the table. Dave dropped the over half-empty bottle at the bar, swiping the cash.

"Okay, you start," Alec said. He finished off his scotch and faced Max.

"Okay," Max giggled. She thought for a moment. "I've never really been drunk. Before tonight anyway." Max looked down. _This was what feeling drunk was supposed to feel like, right? Giddy for no apparent reason, smile plastered to my face, letting my mind race with possibilities I wouldn't allow myself to consider if sober?_

Alec didn't drink. "Me either. Until now. So I guess that means we both drink, 'cause we're both drunk now."

Max and Alec took their shots and Max refilled the glasses. "Do you know what's in this?" she asked, shaking the bottle of brown stuff.

"Nope. I've been calling it Rocket Fuel," he paused, watching as Max swept her hair to her back and fanned her face, "but I'm starting to think it has oyster in it."

Max didn't seem to be paying attention to the comment.

"My turn," Alec said, trying to think how he could get her to reveal something saucy. "I've never… worn thong underwear to a bar and scammed a bunch of strangers for Rocket Fuel money."

Max smiled devilishly. She took a shot. _He wanted to know what kind of underwear I'm wearing._

Alec's eyes betrayed his wonderment and surprise at the confession she made by shooting her shot. His heart rate increased. He fought the urge to look down to her perfect legs, knowing that at the top of them, only a thin layer of thong separated her from-

"My turn," Max said, shifting in her seat. _Damn, it's getting hot in here_, she thought. "I've never had a fantasy about a coworker."

Alec took his shot of the brown gunk as Max watched him with a wide, knowing grin, which he returned. She licked her lower lip slowly, knowing his eyes traced every move her tongue made. He set down his glass and reached for the bottle.

Max grabbed her shot glass and took her drink. She had definitely fantasized about a coworker before. She had fantasized about a coworker not five minutes ago. "Fill me up," she said. _That wasn't a very smart choice of words,_ she thought._ Well, by the look on his face, maybe it is._

He filled both their glasses. "Maxie, the game is 'I've Never,' and you just admitted something you _have_ done."

"I couldn't think of anything else," she said. _I couldn't think of anything else but you_, she added to her own thought.

"Okay," he said. This was harder than he thought. He was searching his mind for something he had never done. Finally, he had an idea. "I've never met anyone who could match my endurance." He left it at that, letting her interpret his statement her own way. When she didn't drink, he wasn't surprised. She pressed her lips together to keep from breathing too loud at the mental suggestion of banging the gong for twelve hours.

It was true, no one she had ever been with during heat had been able to match her endurance. She was insatiable to them, which is one of the reasons she didn't like being around anyone when she went into heat – knowing his touch would not fulfill her was like knowing the end of a story before it was told. She hated being let down, and in a twisted way, felt guilty that she couldn't truthfully tell him he had rocked her world, because he just hadn't. As a result, she hadn't been with anyone in over a year. Always made sure she was out of town and alone.

"My turn," Max said, drawing her finger around the lip of the shot glass. "I've never been the subject of a coworker's fantasy," she teased, confidently leaning in a couple of inches toward him.

They stared into each other's eyes for a minute. _I can't believe she just said that_, Alec thought. "How could you possibly know, out of all your coworkers, whether or not that's true?" he asked. Max did not break the stare.

_I'll know if you take a drink_, she thought. She was playing the game, and she was going to win. Alec kept her gaze as he raised his shot glass and took his shot.

Max's pulse raced with anticipation. _I wonder what kind of fantasy he's had about me,_ she thought. _Maybe he fantasized about their lack of copulation at Manticore, and what might have happened if I was there, in heat, and he showed up, flashing his sexy crooked smile, making me watch the way his lips pursed when he said my name for the first time. Maybe he dreamt about pleasuring me, using his smart mouth in a whole new way. Perhaps he imagined my nipples rubbing up against his bare chest, driving him crazy into an erotic oblivion. _

Alec watched the faraway look in her eyes, wondering what she was thinking about. She was looking at him, blushing, but she wasn't really present in the situation. She shook herself out of her thoughts.

"I've never sought out a club that I knew said coworker frequents, then spent the night undressing said coworker with my eyes." Alec's lips remained parted as he finished his turn. Max stared back at him, unable to speak. _You caught that, huh?_ she thought. She shot her drink, returning the glass to the table. Alec threw her his cocky grin again.

"Touché," Max said. She looked to the bottle of Rocket Fuel. The opaque brown liquid was almost gone. _This stuff is like sex in a bottle._

Alec looked at the bottle, too, sharing Max's thought that it was almost gone. _This bottle must be filled with pheromones_, he thought, adjusting in his seat a little. "Enough for two more rounds," he said. He filled the glasses and set the bottle back down with a smooth thud.

"Okay, I got one," she said, biting her lower lip. "I've never scratched on the eight on purpose."

_Busted!_ Alec shot her a smirk reserved for 'guilty-as-charged' and shot the fuel. He refilled his shot glass for probably the last time. There would be enough for one more shot.

Max's eyes revealed she was not-so-surprised. "Why did you do that?" she asked, watching his lips as he responded. She imagined his lips gently brushing against her neck and traveling up toward her ear. She was starting to feel a little flushed.

"Wrong game, Maxie," he said, interrupting her thoughts. "This is 'I've Never,' and that was clearly a question."

She nodded. "Do your worst," she offered.

"I've never," he began, fingering the rim of his glass, "liked dancing before tonight," he finished.

"Really?"

Alec nodded. Max gulped down her drink. "I love dancing," she said, and her eyes seemed to add _'with you.'_

Alec stood and held out a hand. Max took his hand and he hauled her to the dance floor. He threw her arms around his neck and pulled her close with such force that her body crashed into his roughly. They began moving and swaying to the seductive beat, smiling at one another.

"Tell me something you've never told anyone," Max demanded, so close to his ear he could feel her breath.

Alec thought a minute, during which Max grinded against him. He groaned. "I can't think when you do that," he informed.

She grinded against him again. "What? This?" she flirted. Then she purred. Again.

Alec felt her purring against him, rumbling through his body like a freight train. _Does she even know she's doing that? Does she know what that is doing to me?_ It took all of Alec's strength not to moan.

His face became very serious all of the sudden. He stopped leading her, which stilled them both, and he kept his arms around her.

"What's wrong?" Max asked, lightly fingering his barcode. He looked her in the eyes.

"Thank you, Maxie."

"For what?" Max asked innocently.

"For everything. For being my friend. For saving my life." Alec looked away for a moment, then returned his hazel gaze to her. "For showing me."

Max was speechless with bewilderment. _Showing him what? _ _Is this confession the direct result of a rocket-fueled Alec? Or maybe am I hearing things because I'm hyped up on the stuff?_

For a moment, she felt daring and brave. She rose up on her tip toes and leaned in to his ear, tickling his ear lobe with her whisper, "I've never been with another transgenic."

Max felt him harden against her navel, smiling that she had this affect on him.

He growled at his core, sending shivers of excitement through her body. With a look of determination, he yanked her by the hand back toward the bar, grabbed his jacket, and turned to walk out of the bar.

He left his shot glass, brimming with the Rocket Fuel, on the bar, untouched.


	4. Chapter 4

Alec led Max out the back door of Seven Minutes and into a cold alleyway. It was still dark and the club music pounded the bass into the brick exterior. The alleyway was deserted, the ground wet with rain. As the door closed behind them, Max stopped, looking around as Alec turned to face her. They were both breathing hard, foggy breath escaping in rolling plumes with each fall of their chests.

Alec stepped forward, slowly, the slowest he'd ever walked that Max could remember. Maybe it was the Rocket Fuel making everything move in slow motion, but she couldn't help but notice his confident, torturous gait as he came closer to her. She could see the urgency in his eyes.

It was as if she could see his muscles flexing under his shirt, imagining them holding her up against the vibrating brick wall as they parted their lips, allowing each other access to one another's massaging tongues; as if she could see the way his skin reacted to her touch as she lifted the hem of his shirt to trace a trail down into his jeans; as if she could taste his sweat-salty essence as she flicked at his nipples with the tip of her tongue and lined a path down, down, toward his hardness; as if she could smell how aroused he was, how aroused he had made her, as he began the slow torture of tasting her. _If I can't feel him against me, around me, inside me soon, I'm going to implode,_ she thought.

They both had silently-racing hearts, deep short breaths, and the stare of wanting, needing. He studied her body as he approached her. Though the alley was cold, she was definitely flushed, a blush smearing across her cheekbones that accentuated her creamy brown eyes. Her small frame was taut with excitement, energy about to burst, creating some new seams. Her impossibly high skirt threatened to melt off of her the nearer he dared. Heat was rolling off of her in waves, crashing against his like dueling tides, giving one another a fraction of a taste. He could see her hardening nipples grazed lightly by her cobalt top every time she breathed. Alec couldn't help but groan again, his erection pushing to meet its target.

Max remained silent, save for her breathing. _He's almost here,_ she thought. She took one step backward with his last step forward, and felt the pulsating brick behind her. She brought her hands behind her, forming a triangle upon which she rested the small of her back, coyly slinking against the brick like a linen curtain in the hot breeze of a summer day. Alec leaned into her and put one hand up on the brick, advancing closer and closer.

The moment their lips touched, Max could feel every cell of her body reacting to every cell of his, as if they had both been blind to the freedom of a kiss. Even if they had been genetically engineered, it felt like they were genetically engineered to drive one another to the heights and depths of mind-altering connection. Max saw flashes of bright white and utter complete darkness as she felt Alec's tongue sliding across her lower lip. A tease. He started to pull away, creating a vacuum between them. Max arched her back to maintain their kiss, until finally, he parted his lips and she parted hers.

They first created a that nearly-unbearable vacuum again, each wondering whether the other's slippery mouth muscle would ever find its way to tasting oblivion, then just before closing their lips, Max let her tongue tease forward, tickling Alec's with the tip of hers. It seemed as though the temperate tickle invited every possible incantation of a passionate kiss either alpha had ever experienced, seen, or imagined.

Alec's mouth came pulsing back through her lips, his arm dropping his leather jacket to the ground and his hand caressing up her arm to her barcode, gently pulling her deeper into their enduring lip-lock. She raised her hands to his shoulder and barcode, and arched into the kiss, her mouth opening more, allowing her body to connect with his while still holding her head back from him.

Alec brought his other hand down from the brick wall and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her into him even harder. Their mouths opened wider, allowing one another full access. _How in the hell did I miss this?_ Max thought, as he messed his other hand in her silky hair, walking them back a step so Max's head was in his hand against the red and brown brick. _I've never been kissed like this._

She could feel her muscles aching for his touch as he placed his foot between hers and leaned into her, his leg rubbing indiscriminately and incredulously close, simultaneously rubbing himself against her hip. Max moaned a kiss into his mouth and raked her hands through his ashen hair, pulling at him with more strength than she thought she could muster in this state. More than willing, he seemed to read her body's exigency before her mind even thought the idea.

_God, she feels right_, Alec thought, grinding into her hip and between her legs. _Synesthesia_, he thought, _I don't know how she did it, but I can actually smell how wet she is_. He was certain that by the time they found a room, his boxers would be soaked and his jeans halfway there. Alec fought the urge to lift her up and hold her against the wall with his massaging fingers. He imagined her face contorted in pure pleasure as she rode his hands to climax.

As if reading his mind, Max reached back to bring one of his hands between them and stared at it for a moment. _This hand carried so much_, she thought. _It had carried weapons: guns, blades, wires, bombs; it had carried the morale of his unit, all those X5s who'd seen this hand and saluted to him because of it; it had carried the memories of hand-to-hand combat; it had carried the guilt of Rachel. _

Max looked up to Alec. He watched as she kissed his palm and slid his hand over her cheek in a caress. He brushed the pad of his thumb over her lips and felt himself growl with anticipation as she took his middle finger, his longest finger, into her mouth and sucked on it as she slid it out of her mouth.

He had been speechless.

Staring up at him again, she then moved his palm over her neck and brought it to rest on her chest. She looked down at his hand, then back up to him, letting him feel how fast he made her heart beat. Alec was breathing a little harder now, his hand against her chest, her warm hand resting on his, not sure what this all meant, but suddenly understanding the depth of Max's compassion, the endless patience and bottomless heart she somehow kept hidden in their day-to-day contact.

Finally, she took his one hand in both of hers and again, made eye contact with him. She returned her gaze to his hand, causing him to watch as she guided it over the expanse of her body, pushing it down as she purred; it passed between her breasts, floated down her smooth stomach, bumped over her miniskirt, and slid between her thighs. She then pulled his warm hand up her skirt and pushed his masculine fingers against the small string which was her thong underwear.

Alec's breathing stopped. He had the wordless understanding that accompanied knowing exactly what she was offering him. Without entering her, he slid and rubbed his fingers up and down the front of her lower lips. She involuntarily tilted her head back and winced with pleasure, sucking in air between gritted teeth and mewling in exhale. He resumed breathing, and stepped forward more to begin tracing a pattern up her neck and shoulder with his tongue and lips as he stroked her.

He had never seen her in that much pleasure before. She was teetering on her tiptoes on the down stroke and heaving back down on the upstroke, creating a friction between them that drove Alec fucking wild. Her warm skin was getting wetter, soaking her thong, soaking his fingers, soaking his mind in the image of her ecstasy.


	5. Chapter 5

Suddenly, he was filled with a panic. There was no way he could satiate her out here in the alleyway. He needed time. He needed hours to pleasure her, pleasure her with every atom of his being, every muscle, every bone. He needed to spend time on each of her body parts, discovering which movements, caresses, and touches excited and pleased her the most. Which ones made her moan in mesmerizing bliss, which ones made her groan and grunt with want, which ones made her squeeze him tighter, which ones made her squeeze him closer. _I definitely need time,_ he thought. _Definitely hours._ He stroked up again and felt her light weight pushing down on his hand with force. _Maybe days._ He stroked down again, and she purred, almost predatorily. _We need to get out of this alley_.

Max's chest was slightly flushed, her temperature still on the rise, her breaths coming faster and faster. She was getting closer. She remembered where they were, backed up against a pounding brick wall, barely under cover from the rain, in an alleyway, with Alec's hand up her skirt, his lips on her neck, his tongue delving in and out of her mouth, his warmth adding to hers. If she had stopped to think about it, she would expect to see some fog coming off their bodies, what with their hot skin meeting the cold air at quickening intervals.

Max opened her eyes and met Alec's hungry stare. "Alec," she whined in a gasping whisper. His name, the name she had given him, the name he knew described him, came out of her mouth so sweetly, with such need and moan that it could have been orgasmic. He had never heard anything so sexy. He felt as though his erection was throbbing and growing. _How is that even possible?_

_That's it,_ he thought. They needed to do this proper. They needed to find a bed. Alec slowly removed his hand from under her skirt, even though every atom in his body screamed at him not to. Before she could protest, he inched his head toward hers and kissed her again. When he started to pull away, she grabbed both sides of his face and pressed it toward hers, pulling at the back of his neck, clawing over his barcode with needful speed. At the end of the kiss, Alec teased her with a mock kiss, running his lower lip against hers. Just his masculine lips on hers made all of her mental defenses explode. _How could his lips be so soft? _She purred at him. She wanted him, had to have him inside of her.

Alec looked around them, scoping their surroundings for a place to go. He knew there were a couple of motels nearby, but they were within driving range, not walking range, and both of them were still feeling the effects of the Rocket Fuel; and on top of that, their bodies couldn't even consider separating from the other's impassioned embrace long enough to drive to a motel, pay for it, and get inside without giving everyone within sight or earshot some kind of show. The way he was panting and the way she was whining, they'd be lucky if they made it indoors before they started recklessly ripping each others' clothes off.

He closed his eyes momentarily, thinking about her olive flesh against his, her naked skin rubbing against his. He thought about how, even though Manticore genetically engineered her to be a soldier, they had made her such a beautiful one – with an exotic hue to her skin, dark, hypnotizing eyes, lean and slender legs. He thought about how feminine her hands were; he longed to feel her electric touch on his skin. _Focus, soldier_, he scolded himself, rubbing his erection into her abdomen again. Max's head lifted back with his grinding. When she returned to him, he was looking up at the nearby buildings.

Max followed his gaze to the building next to them. It looked like it could have been a live/work building before the pulse, a series of shops on the main floor with living space above. She hoped. Alec must have been thinking the same thing because he stepped back, grabbed his leather jacket and quickly slipped into it.

Max felt a sudden cold breeze against her wet panties and shivered, realizing just how effective he had been at his seduction. Her cheeks bloomed in a rosy blush.

Alec captured her hand, and led her toward the front of the street, hurriedly glancing at each door to see which one was easier to break, and which was less visible to the street.

He stopped them at one particularly dreary doorway. Before she realized what she was doing, her lips were on Alec again, kissing at his neck, tongue-toying with his earlobe, trying to devour him with her plump lips. She had pushed him up against the doorway and let her body rub against him. He was pleasantly surprised. He let out a groan and imagined what it might feel like if neither of them were wearing clothes. He shook as a zap ran through his body.

The name on the glass in the doorway read "Smile Time Dentist." Alec gave Max an urgent look. She shook her head and shot a glance toward a store a couple of doors down, whose glass read "Sextasy." Alec's eyes lit up. She coyly pulled him by his muscled arm, over to Sextasy. It had a diagonal-facing door and Alec noticed, peering inside, that it looked as though it had been out of business for a couple of months. If there had been any product in it when the owners left, it had been looted long before tonight. The interior still had sheets half-covering the tables and chairs as if someone had planned to come back to it eventually.

Alec looked to Max, her coffee-colored eyes ablaze with desire. _I can't possibly make it to another store_, he thought_._ Max grabbed his jacket lapels in her fists and pulled him toward her, backing them toward the door. She backed into it a little harder than she thought, groaning as she rode the line between pain and pleasure, and then his hands were all over her again, one cupping her cheek and sweeping back toward her neck, the other curling around her waist and pulling her body against his.

His soft lips came crashing heavily down on hers, warm and hard. She let out a delicious moan as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lifted herself up, unable to contain herself any longer as she raised her legs around him, pulling his thickness to her. She silently cursed her decision to wear any panties at all.

Alec pushed her against the storefront and fumbled behind her for the door, managing to maintain their feverish kissing as he busted the lock with a powerful twist of his wrist. The door swung open and he walked inside, Max still attached to the front of him. He kicked the door shut and set Max down on the first table he encountered. He muscled the table over to the door and used it as a blockade, Max's lips curving up at the edges from the wondrous vibrations coursing up her core.

She closed her eyes and flooded with images of what she was about to do with him, to him. She saw him shirtless, a sheen of sweat prickling up from his pores as she kissed at every available inch of his chest, lightly running her fingernails over his nipples. She heard herself grumble as she imagined massaging his ass with both hands, pulling his penis toward her waiting lips. She dreamed of the contortions his face would make as she prodded at the tip of his shaft with her taste buds, and nearly lost all ability to control herself. He must have had inklings as to what she was imagining, because he picked her up by her ass, each hand curving around her lower cheeks, and carried her to the stairs that would lead to their oblivion.

Alec marched up the stairs militantly, kissing every surface of her skin he could reach without gnashing her against him for more access, refusing to let any of her breathless shifting or stirring interrupt his mission: _Get her to the bed_.

And Max was shifting and stirring all the way up. She would have been happy to bring him to every possible torturous, muscle-aching, mind-blowing, life-altering climax right there on the stairs. Somehow, she knew she didn't have to hold back with him. Whatever thirsty and painfully pleasurable punishment she would do to him, on purpose or inadvertently, she knew he could take it. He was a soldier after all, made to withstand almost anything.

_Except this torture_, Alec thought. Max had reached down and turned the knob on the door, swinging it open to a little apartment. As he carried her inside, she kicked off her slouchy boots and landed softly against a wall. _Not the bed_, he scolded himself, devouring Max's neck slowly, laying her against the wall as if she was on a horizontal surface.

Max tried to spread her legs even further, her body betraying her craving for everything-Alec. He pushed into her, then lifted her again, looking around the room for the bed, and once he spotted it, he returned his intentions back to Max and snuck her over to the soft mattress. He grunted loudly when she gyrated against him, then kneeled on the bed, toppling over as he landed on top of her. She realized they were on a bed.

_Finally._


	6. Chapter 6

Max pushed at his jacket with some force, helping him remove it as his boots hit the floor with a couple of thuds. She yanked at his tee shirt, pulling it up between them. Unwilling to have anything but skin between them, and with a feral stare, Alec pulled his shirt over his head, the black cotton ruffling his dark blonde hair in the process, and discarded the unwanted item. Even though his hair was mussed, Max found the determination in his eyes beyond sexy. She reached up to him and played with his hair. She felt as though her insides were glowing.

Everything slowed, as if Alec's mind was forcing the slow-down to take in what was happening, burn it into his brain, so that even if he lived one hundred years and found himself old and decrepit in some basement somewhere, having suffered at the hands of Alzheimer's, or frontal lobotomy, or re-indoctrination, or Psy-Ops, he would never forget one single detail of this experience. Not how she smelled – both like clean skin and slight vanilla; not how she tasted – like a mixture of cherries and salty fire; not how she felt – smooth and warm, melted and wet, fitting perfectly against his body; not how she sounded – every needful whimper, wild mewl, uncontrolled purr, violent vibration, rough growl, gasping inhale and demanding grunt would be the only vocabulary he knew; and definitely not how she looked – like a lean and voluptuous seductress, her eyes burning into him as if to suggest he was about to learn every secret she ever kept, mental, physical and emotional, her brunette silken hair flowing through his fingers, her lips swollen from all the kissing and sucking, and god, her body.

Alec's mind made fireworks appear as he concentrated on Max. He looked down at her, writhing underneath him on top of the white comforter, with hooded brown eyes, wanting him, needing him. _Here I am, in someone's shabby old apartment, looking down into the endlessly chocolaty eyes of an angel, an angel resting on the clouds. _Alec smiled, not the usual smirk that crooked his lips up on one side, the one with the twinkle of danger, but a different smile; this was the smile which encompassed desire, appreciation, passion and freedom. He was free because of her, because she came into his life and opened his eyes to something greater than the world of Manticore.

Alec lowered himself to her and kissed her sweetly and aggressively, tasting her as if he had a newfound purpose to be a contradiction, to share that part of him with her. She could expect no less, anyway. He was cocky, arrogant at times, but he was also noble and a leader. Such an alpha. His body was hard and sculpted like a soldier's should be, but when he looked at her, he was filled with a compassion and softness. It turned her on more than he realized - the paradox that was Alec. He was game for any mission, a delivery in the roughest part of the city, and a beer at Crash any night. _If he licks his lips one more time, he's gonna get it_, she thought.

Running her open palm over his beautifully charged muscles, Max kissed him back, more openly than anyone else she had ever kissed. _How sick is it that I want to thank Manticore for their years of regimented exercise and training?_ She thought, working her hands over his belt. As she loosed the leather and pulled the strap out of the buckle, she felt her way past his belly button and grasped his stiffness, unconsciously licking her own lips and causing him mental anguish. His mind cooked up another sexy scenario as he closed his eyes to her hand's massaging. He growled at her, the rumble letting her know she'd done something unbearably sexy.

Alec scooped under her and pulled her effortlessly to a sitting position, which to his chagrin forced her to stop gripping his manhood, and lifted her cerulean top up and over her head, her long dark hair spilling out of the neck hole last and falling to her shimmering skin. He tossed her shirt over his shoulder and peered down at Max's chest. Her black satin bra was the only item of clothing between their chests, now.

Alec slipped a finger under the strap at her shoulder. The strap caught on his digit and he slowly slid it off her shoulder, descending on her shoulder and kissing along the path his fingertips had just trekked. _He's making a touch-memory map of my body_, she thought. He repeated the action on the other strap, then tried to lay her back onto the bed. She didn't budge.

Instead, Max pulled him toward her in another kiss, and managed to swing him around onto the bed so he was lying underneath her. She raised herself onto her knees and straddled him. With the weight of her directly positioned over his solid erection, he ached with desire, but he was going to make sure this night lasted as long as possible. He mentally willed himself to hold back. _You can do this,_ he instructed himself. _You can hold back, until… _He groaned as Max rubbed her body into his.

Alec sat up on the bed and brushed his hands up her back, pulling her into an embrace as he kissed between her breasts and up toward her collarbone. Her hands instantly found his head and she raked through his hair, holding his head to her as she tilted her head back, allowing him access to her neck and throat.

Instead of accepting the access, Alec used his chin to push the top of her bra down, revealing her dark, perfectly round areolas. The sudden availability of her nipples to him and the coldness of the room created an arousing contradiction on the surface of her skin. She put him in this position so she could pleasure him, but he had somehow turned that around. She melted against him, his mouth finding its first target.

He agonized over her areola, flicking at the tip of her nipple until it became erect and hard like a pencil's eraser, then took the whole of it into his mouth and pressed it in with his tongue as if depressing a button, then sucked on it again until it popped out and she screamed out in anticipation, writhing in his lap, grinding against him.

With her nipple still in his mouth, he gently held it between his teeth and sucked in air, making it cold and hard again. _Oh, God,_ she thought, imagining his mouth switching sides at random. She mewled at the idea, then let out a soft scream as he enveloped her left nipple in his warm mouth and began the teasing all over again. She rocked in place, rubbing herself along his length. He topped off the flicking, licking, kissing and sucking with one final luscious kiss on the tip of her nipple, and then backed away.

Max looked down to discover he had removed her bra entirely. Without her even noticing. She smiled and pushed him back onto the bed. With his head propped on the pillows, she pushed him again, as if to say _stay_. She started to back up, rocking from side to side, shimmying down the front of him, and leaned down so her arms were outstretched at his head and her nipples were riding along his chest, caressing him, and his chest stroking her nipples. About halfway down, she bent down the rest of the way and bit his nipple a little more than gently. He hummed approval as she licked at the 'injury.'

She continued down the path, her fingertips pressing long streaks down his chest, until she reached his jeans. She blew air at his stomach as if whistling, and he shivered uncontrollably. _Where is she going? _he thought. She unbuttoned his jeans and drew his zipper down using her teeth. He stared down at her with an aching astonishment. Then she grabbed the material, including his – he was right, now soaked – boxers, and pulled them off his legs.

At the sight of him, her eyes grew darker. If she'd had known what he was packing, she probably wouldn't have kicked him square in the nuts those months ago. She wondered if he remembered that, or if he could remember that in his current state. She wondered if all transgenics were blessed with genetically sculpted pieces, and if it was Manticore's intention to make them irresistible in every way imaginable. She wondered momentarily what practical or tactical advantage they assumed it would create to be masterfully made to exude eroticism. Before she had the split second to wonder another thought, Alec darted across the bed and pulled her up onto it. He couldn't stand to be apart from her for any more seconds. He needed skin on skin, the contact.

Once again on his lap, Max positioned herself so his firm muscle lay against his abdomen and she lowered herself onto it, the warmth of the area created by the junction of her legs seeping into his appendage. Alec instinctively moved his hands to her hips and helped her grind against him. His eyes rolled back in his head. He had to focus. _Jesus, I'm not even inside of her yet and she's gonna make me come._ Alec took a couple of really deep breaths as he felt her wiggling. He snapped his eyes open to see her unzipping the side of her skirt and pulling it over her head. She threw it across the room somewhere and returned her gaze to him.

Max felt him throbbing against her, his hands scooping around her smooth rear end and pulling her forward, then pushing her back. He eyed her thong and dreaded the moment she would remove her warmth to take it off. He prepared himself even for the possibility that he would have to rip it off of her. _Maybe with my teeth_. Max grabbed Alec by the wrists and forced his palms up her body to cup her breasts. She rocked in place again, biting her lower lip at the million ways her body was reacting to him. She felt like all her blood was about to burst out of her skin. He made her boiling hot. His hands were not still on her breasts, either. He was tenderly grazing his palms against her nipples, from the heel of it to the tip of his middle finger, making her nipples ache for her lower region to release.


	7. Chapter 7

Max whined incoherently, driving Alec stark raving mad with her gyrations. All his senses were screaming to take her. He imagined his head might explode the moment he slowly slid into her. If there was such a thing as a mental orgasm, he was about to have one.

Max couldn't take the torture anymore. She raised herself up a little, his erection also rising up toward its mark, and she reached down between her legs and pulled the wet, taut piece of cotton aside. Alec's eyes gleamed with an unspeakable surprising want. _Not off, just aside_, he thought. This ranked as one of the top five hottest things he'd ever experienced, the other four items on the list being actions and stares they had given one another over the past few hours. She hovered over the tip of him, hesitating to create the anticipation. He held his breath. His mind and eyes were wild with fervor.

She lowered herself about an inch, just enough for his lower head to skim at her illogically warm entrance. He involuntarily attempted to push his hips up, to get closer to and eventually in between her fleshy petals. Four of Alec's senses suddenly failed, leaving only the sense of touch. Every cell reacted to Max's gyrations, her promises, the slickness he knew he'd caused and now felt kiss at the tip of his erection. He let out the held breath. He hadn't realized his eyes were closed until she called to him.

"Alec," she said in the sexiest whine, a whine against which all other whines would be judged, a whine that conveyed how much she wanted him. _Wants me_. His eyes drifted open, taking in the hazy image of the nude, blushing woman above him.

She needed to see the sexy, cocky, spark in his hazel eyes while she slowly, agonizingly, lowered herself completely. The tip of him parted her soft lips, pushing apart her aching walls, simultaneously exciting them with beads of electricity, and rubbing up into her, their skin creating the softest, wettest, most erotic friction. He could see how they fit together, her lower lips wrapped around him entirely, wet and welcoming, surrounding him completely. Just as he finished the thought, her lower muscles contracted, pulling him farther into her.

_Hard, inside me, like our bodies are having the best French kiss of all time, _Max thought in fragments_. _She exhaled in a beautiful moan and made an untamed, natural purr. He inhaled and wondered what she had just thought. He forced himself to focus on her pleasure.

Max leaned her head forward, their bodies perfectly still otherwise, and kissed him again. He tickled up her back as if keying a piano. Her hair fell forward in a curtain around their heads, and her nipples dabbed at his chest. He could feel they were perked again. He flexed his erection as she rocked backward and squeezed him inside her, pushing him deeper into her folds.

She mumbled incoherently as he helped her create the tension she had so desperately hinted at against the vibrating wall outside Seven Minutes. He cradled her ass, lifting her upward a couple inches at random, altering their senses and exploring every angle of her unfathomably feminine darkness, only to bring her back down hard, pressing his hands into her hips, the act in itself shooting bursts of pleasure into her core. Their breathing became instinctively staccato with her swiveling and his burrowing, pinprick beads of sweat forming at her collarbone and in the crevasses of his muscles.

He pulsated inside of her and she tilted her head back, her hair falling back, her body arching back, making her breasts appear attention-starved. Alec sat up once again and enveloped her in his embrace, pulling her body against his, her breasts closer to his mouth. He sucked a nipple into his mouth and flicked at it while he maneuvered his hand to the back of her neck, supporting her arch as he pressed his lips together roughly, squeezing her reddened nipple with his soft lips.

Her hands fell to his back, pulling him toward her over and over again, the slow in-out, in-out motion bringing her close to climax, then down, then close again, then down. This was truly the best torture. Max imagined their pieces intertwining at an extremely close angle, feeling his largeness massage her inside out, tickle at her cervix. It was as if there was a spot deep in her that only he could reach, and he kept rubbing it incessantly, with a need to draw out her pleasure until she experienced the lightheaded dizziness, heart-racing vacuum of him inside her, the vacuum the unbearable void he would fill and empty at such a calculated beat that he would truly be in charge of her pleasure.

He started moving her hips up and pushing them down quicker as she intensified the rocking. Max widened the reach of her legs, pinching his penis inside of her. _Oh, God,_ he thought. _How did she just make herself tighter?_ He grunted, burying himself in her over and over.

Max pushed him back onto the bed and held him down by the chest, again returning to the feel of her skin on his, the connection it provided, how perfect it felt. Alec smiled. He loved how she knew what she wanted and how to get it. He loved how she slid her hands up his chest – it made him feel desired. Sexy. He loved her touch. He loved to see her breasts bouncing as she bucked her hips against his. His eyes sparked with a sudden realization. _She's gonna ride me fuckin' raw. _

Alec grinned at the realization, a sly smirk intolerably sexier than his normal smirk. Max's breathing started to change, hitch like a record skipping its beat, then the needle being put back into the groove, then skipping again. He felt her lower muscles starting to contract. He intensified his movement inside her, making sure he continued the exact pace and throb that had brought her this far.

And then she did ride him raw. She was smashing her hips against his furiously, her labored breathing adding extra shake to her breasts. Her face began to twist. First the corners of her mouth twitched. Her cheeks tightened and her eyebrows moved closer together. She looked pained, concerned, but he knew she just needed that one final push to send her into forgetting her name, her designation. He thrust into her as deeply as he could manage, reaching his hands up to her bouncing nipples. She fought to keep her eyes open, so that he knew she acknowledged who had done this to her, who was making her wild, making her come.

Finally, he contracted his muscle at the perfect depth, creating the perfect void, rubbing against the perfect combination of cells within her walls, and she came. Loudly. And hard. He could feel that she'd just pushed a little wetness onto his lower head. She had screamed out in oblivion, totally unaware how many decibels she emitted, unaware if anyone could hear her, and with her head tilted back and her mind completely absent, unaware how Alec kept her coming for so long.

They slowed down together. _The calm before the storm,_ Alec thought, smiling, watching Max come down, her eyes slowly opening as she continued grinding against him. She smiled that wicked smile. Again. The one that made him crazy horny. She squeezed her muscles, pumping him gently, letting him know she was ready to continue. He could feel the saturated thread of her panties riding the side of his shaft. With one hand staying at her soft breast, he lowered the other to her thong underwear and violently ripped it off of her. She let out an excited moan. It normally would have hurt, but that fine line between pain and pleasure had folded over to just pleasure.

They began moving together once again, her vagina massaging, squeezing, pulsing around him, working him into a frenzy of hard, fast breathing and streaming pressure. He could listen to her pleased groaning and breathing all morning, all night, every day for the rest of his genetically engineered life. It was sexy as hell.

As their thrusting increased in tempo, Max knew Alec was riding the line, trying to lure out another orgasm from the depths of her warmth. Then he did something she had never experienced, something she would only experience with him. He began to blur inside of her, controlled and intently. _Thank God, or whatever Manticore geek made me, that I'm a transgenic soldier,_ she thought. _No other girl, no ordinary, would ever be able to take this girth and length, and he would hurt any other girl if he blurred in her. _It felt like a big fuck-you to Manticore that he was using this ability they cooked into his DNA to please her. For some reason, she lost herself in the motion and reveled that he didn't need to hold back with her.

She began to blur back. _Fuck_, Alec thought. _I'm in trouble._ They were moving faster than both their senses of sight and sound could really determine, heightening and honing their sense of touch. Alec was slipping over the edge, but it felt so good and so raw, and they were bumping out the rhythm so fast that he was quickly losing his sense of self. When he felt the tell-tale twitching and heard her breathy cadence change, he was pulled right back into control, focusing on her arousal and her coming again.

Right now, he lived only to satisfy her. As she screamed out hysterically, his skin heated up, threatening to combust at any moment. Like a spade into soil, he continued digging into her, plowing into her instinctively. He wanted to stay inside her, pumping into her until she felt sated, and if that was never, then so be it. _I'm game_, he thought. Her near-minute-long orgasm finally rolling to a stop, she sat in his lap, his still-solid manhood sheathed in her to the hilt. She rocked forward, tilting her hips to each side, sending new sensations through him.

Mid-thrust, he began to sit up, slickly muscling in and out of her. He dipped her backward on the bed and reversed their positions, the pillows now up by their feet. He pressed into her, her smooth legs dividing evenly beneath him. He began very slowly sliding almost completely out of her, then all the way in her. Her hands instinctively traveled up his hard-muscled arms and came to rest at his shoulders. She pulled him down to her, kissing him.

Alec teased her lips with his tongue, delving in and out of their open-mouthed kisses. Their erratic breathing did not interrupt the slow, blissful pace. Max felt like she was sitting back on her elbows at the shore, feeling the water lap at her, lick her toes and trickle up her legs. The demand was building, she knew. She could feel it. She was getting close again, and he still had yet to have an orgasm.

As Alec spilled down her neck, keeping the erogenous zones occupied with whichever appendage he could spare, every hot breath and grunt sending him further under, he pushed into her harder and harder, encouraged by every sound she made. His own tide was cresting. Her shore was anticipating the crash, and she held on as long as she could. Alec was gone. 494 was gone. He was pure instinct now, making love to her like they were responsible for the survival of the species.

He kept the pace slow like a building wave, and before she knew it, she had called out to him in the slowest, most intense orgasm. "Alec," she had hummed.

Alec's eyes snapped open, bringing him back to her. Alec lazily let his eyelids fall as his muscle began to pulse.

"Mmmmm," Max mumbled as if she had just tasted something exotic and erotically sweet, simultaneously sending him over the edge. Staring into her eyes, his hot rush of undulations crashed against the rocks of her inner walls, the surf meeting the shore with cresting, crushing abandon. Their eyes were glued to one another's as they rode out their climax.

Alec sunk into her arms, kissing her passionately, rubbing into her repeatedly. Max vibrated with pleasure as he continued his movement, stimulating her inner lips right at the entrance. She pulled her hands between them and tickled them around to his back, pulling him into her by his ass. _I knew she had a thing for my ass_, he thought.

Max was nearly beside herself with glowing amazement. She smiled, lips against his, as she came to a realization. _He really is always ready._ She grinned and pulled his hips toward hers, his tip hitting her cervix. He seemed to be stirring her with his somehow still-rock-hard erection. _Didn't he just come?_ It didn't matter. He was stirring her crazy. She felt like her head was about to spin off or get whiplash from flailing it about the bed for so long.

Alec moved inside her, stirring and rubbing and massaging and pulsing so slowly; she could feel everything she had done to him. He slipped up into her and pulled away like the undertow of a wave, but before he knew it, she had already pulled him back to her. If he wasn't careful, he'd have bruises on his ass shaped like her hands. The idea tickled him and he grinned. He would take her abuse whenever she wanted.

Max felt like her body was a sheet of music, and every note he punctuated, plucked at the instrument, was building up to a grand crescendo. She could feel him, feel him reading her. The look in his eyes, deep in hers, was one of discovery – he was discovering her soul, and every instrument of his that touched her made the most beautiful tone.

Even when she heard beautiful music, it never called out to her as such a personal experience as Alec's interpreting her had. Before this moment, she had thought about how an artist interpreted the world, displaying it for everyone to see or hear or feel, and get a glimpse of someone else's abstract point of view; never had she thought about how an artist revealed the most vulnerable parts of himself through his art; he could convey every emotion through the notes he tickled, plucked, tapped and fingered. Alec was reading her a map. He wasn't just discovering the aria of Max – he was showing her who he really was. Max's eyes welled with tears. This was the most beautiful moment of her whole life, and she couldn't hold it in any longer; the seams began to burst.

Alec stopped lifting himself into her for a moment when he saw her eyes, tearful. "Are you okay?"

Max nodded, unable to express the sudden onslaught of emotion.

"Do you want to stop?"

Max shook her head. She raised her hand and rested it on his barcode for a moment before pulling him down to her. "Make love to me," she seemed to ask.

She had never been made love to – she would never have let anyone touch the deepest part of her – the part of her she protected from Manticore, cheating boyfriends, Original Cindy and everyone. Because what if someone saw it and thought she was ugly? Or what she truly thought might be worse: what if they thought she was beautiful? A genetically-engineered assassin, fugitive to her creators, flawed and everything… and what if she was still beautiful?

Alec looked past her eyes and, she felt, into her soul. He got harder and softer at the same time; his exterior harder, his lips and understanding, his interior softer. He laid steady hands to her cheeks and wiped her tears with his thumbs. He moved toward her and kissed her eyelids. He trailed kisses down one side of her neck and whispered, "Maxie."

This was the only time either transgenic had ever made love to anyone; with anyone. She could feel it. Maybe they had started this because of the Rocket Fuel, but she continued because nothing had ever felt to right, so erotic, so pure, so perfect. Alec was making the slowest, gentlest love to her, and she felt the tenderness building. She felt her lower muscles contracting, felt him pulsating, and they came together, sharing the longest, most intense orgasm.

A wash of calmness enveloped them. They kissed softly, Max hugging him to her, not allowing him to slide out of her. Overcast sunlight began to spill onto their bodies. They stared into one another's eyes, and glowed, sharing another smile. Neither transgenic had ever felt that they belonged to this world; but there was no denying they belonged together.


End file.
